It Makes Me Feel Better
by Punch Sarcophagus. Avoid Raep
Summary: They knew that they shouldn't be, but did anyways. OneShot


Hi!

I don't own Danny Phantom.

Please R&R!

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A white ray of light made Sam and Tucker squint as Danny phased out of his ghost form. Tucker handed Danny his backpack, and the black-haired boy shoved the Fenton Thermos into a sea of crumpled papers and average-scored returned tests and quizzes. Danny ran a hand through his hair, tiredly, and thanked Tucker.

"Geh.." Danny said, looking away, at the mess that was left from the Box Ghost, "We missed the end of the movie because of him...

Sam grinned, and patted Danny on the back. "No worries," she said, "We can watch it when it comes out on DVD next month, over at my place." Tucker exuberantly agreed. Sam had a great home theater system.

Danny frowned, but brightened up. "At least we don't have school tomorrow," he said, and pulled the backpack onto his shoulder.

The sun was setting on the other side of town, and a few street lamps began to flicker on.

"I ought to get going, dudes," Tucker said, as he read something on his PDA. "I have a raid scheduled in WoW, so... I'll see you guys tomorrow, ok?"

"See ya," Sam said, not waving at him. He was too engrossed with the PDA as he walked off.

"Later, Tuck!" Danny shouted, and Tucker made an impatient waving motion, PDA pen in hand.

Sam and Danny started to walk along the sidewalk, nowhere in particular to be. Just to walk. He didn't want to go home, and neither did she. Home was boring..

"What do you want to do?" he asked, lazily, kicking a pebble in front of him.

Sam thought a moment. "We could go chill in the park, or over at your place," she offered. Her parents were home and.. Well, since learning Danny's identity, they were oddly... Pressuring.. when he was around.

Danny was quiet a moment, thinking. Jazz... She was at Princeton. She'd graduated the year before last. His parents had gone to Belize, in search of... Well, he'd tuned that part out. They'd be back in a week, though. The house was quiet...

"Everyone is gone at home," he said, dully. Being alone was something he didn't like much. "Let's go to the park for a bit."

Sam frowned. She knew he didn't like being alone. What were best friends for, except to know everything about them? She pulled the purple band out of her hair, and rubbed the sore spot where it had been up all day, sighing.

"Sure. Where are your parents?" she asked, even though she already knew.

"Belize," he said, rubbing his neck.

"Ghost thing?"

"Yep.."

Sam sighed. "Be back next weekend?"

"Mhm. Your parents?"

Sam rolled her eyes at his subject-changing. "Home. Want me to stay with you? We can play Mortal Kombat.."

Danny turned his head towards her.

"Really?" he asked, a tiny sparkle in his blue eyes.

"I'll just tell them I'm chilling with Dinah," she said, grinning playfully at him, "Want me to bring Modern Warfare 2, as well?"

He nodded, and shrugged his backpack on better. It had slumped some.

"Sure, and mom left some money for emergencies, we can order out from the Jade Garden," he thought aloud, suddenly more energetic, "They have that veggie rice platter you like so well, and -" he ran into the pole, as he wasn't paying attention to where he'd been walking. He fell on to the sidewalk, holding his cheek.

The Gothic girl rolled her eyes, suppressing a laugh, and offered her hand to him. He took it, and stood up, brushing the dirt off of his back.

They stopped outside of Sam's house.

"Want me to go in with you?"

"Nah," she said, "They won't let me leave if they know you're with me. Protection of innocence and whatnot.. It's easier if I'm alone when I tell them I'm hanging with Dinah."

Danny went ghost, and turned intangible. His backpack became intangible, too. Sam grinned.

"Okay, okay," she said, walking up to the door, enjoying the chill his intangibility radiated, "You can come, too."

Purple-polished nails on slim fingers plucked a dragon keychain from a loop on the skirt, and quick, intelligent lavender eyes selected the correct key in moments.

The door unlocked with a barely audible 'click'.

No one called out as Sam entered, but the television was able to be heard from the foyer. Sam went into the TV room, but pointed to her room, mouthing for him to go up. Her parents, like her, could feel the chill Danny let off, and they'd know he was with her.

Danny phased through the ceiling, and into Sam's room. He phased into tangibility, and humanesque form, and plunked into the bean bag chair in the corner. He picked up one of Sam's Slinky Toys and played with it, absently.

Sam walked in, a moment later. The goth grabbed a few things, and tossed them in an overnight bag. "That one's my favorite," she said, referring to the Slinky he was holding, "So don't break it."

"Hm," the black-haired boy said, setting it down, "Ready?"

"Yeah," Sam said, pulling the strap over her shoulder. "Meet you outside?"

Danny went intangible again, and flew outside. Sam wished she could to that as she walked down the stairs, yelling a goodbye, see you later, to her parents.

She stepped outside, and Danny was waiting a few yards away, leaning against a lightpost. Most of them had flickered on, and the twilight was fading into night.

Sam sighed, and pulled her lighter out of the pocket on her skirt. "I'm so-" Danny interrupted her. "I know.. Me, too."

He pulled the Marlboros out of his pocket, and Sam was utterly shocked. She hadn't imagined he'd actually picked it up.

"It's... relieving."

She didn't say anything, but delicately extracted her menthols from the other pocket, and slid one out. She broke the filter off, and flicked it in a trashcan. He did the same.

"Tastes purer?" she asked, lighting the end of hers. She took a long draw as she put the lighter back in her pocket.

Danny lit his own. "The fiberglass and stuff..a lot of it is in the filter," he said, and took a draw, just as long.

Smoking felt good after fighting ghosts all day, and school and everything was so stressful.. It was worse when he was alone, because on top of that, it was something to do.

Sam sighed, the smoke hazing around her face for just a moment as they walked. It was stress-relieving.. Unhealthy, but it felt so good, after watching Danny be in danger all the time.. Her slipping grades.. The terribleness of the world.. It all seemed to pause for just a few minutes.

The pair walked in silence, taking in the fresh feeling of tobacco and carbon, mucking up their young lungs. They felt better, though, for the moment, as the tips were flicked into a trashcan outside Danny's house. Instead of bothering with the door, the half-ghost boy grabbed Samantha's wrist, and they became intangible. He went up to his room, automatically, and plunked them onto the bed. He tossed his backpack across the room, and laid, staring at the ceiling.

"Thanks for coming back with me, Sam."

She let her bag slip to the floor, and draped herself across his chest, resting her head on his shoulder, breathing smoky breath on his neck. He smelled like Axe and cigarettes, and she liked it, as much as she shouldn't have. He sighed into her hair. The smoke and perfume would not have matched anyone else.

They shouldn't be, but they did.

* * *

*shrug*I don't really know.


End file.
